Maintaining and Cleaning Your RV Holding Tanks

Your RV has sinks and a toilet just like a house, but unlike a home you’re not usually tied into a community sewer system. Your RV holding tanks are underneath the main living space. The black water tank holds whatever gets flushed from the toilet and the gray water tank holds the drainage from the sinks and shower in most units. These RV holding tanks can only hold so much, so eventually you’re going to have to empty them. This is where a dump station comes in.

You’ll find dump stations; places where you can safely empty the contents of these two RV holding tanks, at all RV campgrounds, both commercial and public. In addition, some rest areas and other spots are opening up dump stations as RVing becomes more popular.

In this comprehensive video, you’ll learn how to dump the two RV holding tanks – the black and gray water systems. You’ll learn safety tips for preventing bacteria and pathogens from escaping into your environment, and you’ll show you which order you should empty your tanks.

We’ll also share some cleaning methods for your RV holding tanks, including how to clean out the black water tank to prevent solids from sticking inside. In addition, we have an old RV trick for cleaning the inner walls of the black water tank while you drive. Learn about water level probes and why you should replace the old ones with the newer version. Also find out how to prevent that “special” odor from backing up into the interior of your home.